Spider-man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

[Dr Rock]

Further spoilery speculation (I haven't read the comics):

Spoiler alert

Miguel uses claws, doesn't have a sense of humour, and injects himself with some sort of serum. Probably not an actual spiderman.

[close]

Spoiler alert

The other Spider-People, sent out by him after Miles, Spider-Woman and Ben Reilly, also didn't receive their powers by a spider-bite. Could be important?

[close]

[dead-ced-dead]

Spoiler alert

I get the impression that 2099 is doing this with the best of intentions, too. Partly for what Dayraven said, but also because it makes for a more interesting character arc than just someone who is trying be evil.

[close]

[13 schoolyards]

I wouldn't be surprised if

Spoiler alert

because Miles isn't a "real" spider-man he's immune from canon - but the others aren't, and the big ending is basically Miles turning his back on the multiverse because he doesn't fit in (and doesn't want to have to let his parents die to do so) but oh no, that means he has to choose between his family and Gwen, guess he'll have to figure out a best of both worlds solution instead

[close]

The thing with these movies is that the story so far has been pretty straightforward, so it's unlikely the final installment will try to squeeze in too many shock twists and reveals - especially as the second film basically ended on one and they'll be wanting to explore that for a bit.

[Oh, Nobody]

How I think the canon event stuff will play out in the next one...

Spoiler alert

Because Miles should never have been Spider-man but for the dimension hopping spider, his father won't die because Miles is his own Spider-man and creates his own canon.

[close]

It's almost certainly this.

Not a prediction per se but

Spoiler alert

part of me thinks that humongoid cyber-Spider-Woman is Peter B's kid all growed up.

[close]

wouldn't make a lot of sense BUT IT'D BE FUNNY WUNNIT

[Oh, Nobody]

Miguel isn't a bad guy, he's just a hardass. He's just Batman. Although I did enjoy this conversation at work:

Parents of 12 year old kid looking at action figures: "Look they've got Spider-Man 2099"

Kid: "I don't want him he's a cunt"

[MojoJojo]

It's almost certainly this.

But Gwen's seems to have already dodged canon, unintentionally.

Spoiler alert

Also, absolutely sucks for every other spider person out there. Miles not being trapped by canon makes it worse for everyone else.

[close]

[Dr Rock]

There'll be a twist in in the next one, natch

[Memorex MP3]

Once Miles follows Gwen the momentum this has is just unbelievable. A rocket ride to fun fun fun!

I preferred the first one because it had a complete story and more spider villains. I missed the big Kingpin. Also the live action stuff didn't work; they shouldn't have done it. But no this is a great film and I loved it.

Agree with all of that, was a bit concerned up to that point tbh.

Very much hoping the second part has minimal plot and just goes all in on crazy vibes for 110 min. Absolutely dreading a >180 min runtime being announced or it being split into two films.

Feel like they didn't stretch Gwen's aesthetic enough somehow; she never totally fit her world

[Lord Mandrake]

There are different versions of this playing, no major story deviations but variations on dialogue and graphics.

[Dayraven]

she never totally fit her world

Having established her as one of the stylistically-normal characters in the first film was a constraint there, I guess.

[Kelvin]

Saw this today and was absolutely blown away. In fact I'm embarrassed to admit I actually teared up several times, not merely because I was moved by the story, but because I truly couldn't believe I was watching something so beautiful and so affecting in a genre that's been so creatively barren for so long. It felt like a revelation. The visuals, the soundtrack, the dialogue, the direction... it's on another level than the dross put out by Disney and Warner Bros. It's leagues beyond.   

[ZoyzaSorris]

Is the correct reaction.

[Kelvin]

Re: the story being a bit thin, I think it's honestly a bit early to say until we see part 2. It's very clearly the first half of a story, rather than a standalone film like the first one, and by the end it's established a fairly complex web (lol) of plotlines that will need to be picked up and tied together. If the first half of a story is primarily about establishing a threat and characters, I think this did a great job - a lot just depends of whether they can stick the landing.       

[Replies From View]

Re: the story being a bit thin, I think it's honestly a bit early to say until we see part 2. It's very clearly the first half of a story, rather than a standalone film like the first one, and by the end it's established a fairly complex web (lol) of plotlines that will need to be picked up and tied together. If the first half of a story is primarily about establishing a threat and characters, I think this did a great job - a lot just depends of whether they can stick the landing.       

The Matrix Reloaded of the Spidleverse Urology, I shall presume.

[Lord Mandrake]

Wrong, so wrong.

[madhair60]

it's not as good as The Matrix Reloaded tbf, you can't use that as a bar, it's unfair to Spiderverse

[Replies From View]

Is a member of the cast scheduled to die between now and the audio recording of spiderverse 3?  If so I hope the replacement voice artist they pick for the same character is vastly and unreasonably different.  🤞

[Magnum Valentino]

Like that time Jim Cummings (white) had to replace James Avery (Uncle Phil) in the middle of one episode of Iron Man and turned in a very "hey man, I'm a black guy, watch out" performance?

Like that time?

[Blinder Data]

pros
- incredible visuals

cons
- doesn't need to be 2 hours 20. at least 20 mins could've been shaved off by making every scene a bit tighter
- sound mix feels a bit off
- didn't get on with spider punk. odd delivery. sounded like Daniel kaluuya had phoned in his dialogue from a separate studio (which of course he had but it's up to actors and directors to make it seamless)
- we've seen characters zip about universes and perform unbelievable stunts so the cliffhanger didn't quite land with me

but the pro outweighs all of that. could've lived in Gwen Stacy's universe - so beautiful.

I prefer the first for reasons others have said - more villains, better story and tighter generally

[Mister Six]

Saw it today. Jaw-dropping. Beautiful. Extraordinary.

5/5 but it loses a third of a point for the shit sound mix (Mrs Six, whose first language isn't English, needed some stuff repeated to her - a rare event - but even I was having trouble), a third of a point for having a cliffhanger and a third of a point for the abominable working conditions of its crew.

Still amazing, though. We're going to buy tickets to an indie film and then sneak into a second screening next week.

[beanheadmcginty]

Has there been an explanation for the sound mix? Surely it wasn't a deliberate choice like that stubborn cunt Nolan? It was so bad in the opening scene on the screen I saw it that I was on the brink of going to find an usher to tell them the speakers were fucked. It got better after that, so at the time I assumed someone in the projection booth had noticed a problem and fixed it, but everyone seems to be complaining about it so it must have been the same for everyone.

[Dr Rock]

It was like that on the pirated version I happened to see.

[Dayraven]

Might depend a little on which version you saw, they actually redeployed the film with an updated sound mix about a week into the release.

(Not an excuse for bad mixing in the first place, though.)

[dead-ced-dead]

I often think that animation is quite a "seat of the pants" kind of filmmaking. If we read the BTS on most Pixar films, it's a miracle any of them came out good, let alone masterpieces with all the things going wrong.

It's a miracle more things like dodgy sound mixes don't come out.

Not that that's an excuse, but knowing people that work in animation, it's constant putting-out-fires.

[Replies From View]

I assume it's not anything as stupid as film and television audio people completing mixes with headphones and then not properly checking what they've done with speakers.  But it's been an issue in so much media since around 2005 that I do kind of wonder.

[Noodle Lizard]

Like some of you all (aka "y'all"), I found it visually stunning but also overlong, despite leaving very little breathing room. Some gags or important plot points could've been missed in a blink. I was sort of surprised and grateful when it ended where it did.

So not perfect. It's absolutely more visually spectacular and inventive than the first, but the first was a lot funnier and better-paced. It doesn't help that the multiverse thing has become something of a banality, which isn't their fault, but it meant that some of the conceits/reveals/jokes didn't hit quite as hard as they might have had every fucking superhero franchise not been mucking around with them for the past few years.

Funny to see the sound mix complaints being discussed here. I honestly thought it was my cinema which had fucked that up. Gwen's V.O. at the beginning sounded like one of those amateur creepypasta podcasts.

[greencalx]

Went to see this with the child yesterday afternoon. I'm not particularly plugged into the Spider-Man universe (multiverse?): my child told me afterwards that by not having seen the prequel I would have been more confused than he was, but overall I felt I got the gist of it.

Quite often with a film I gain a sense within the first few minutes that I'm in good hands. This was one of those films. Already with the production idents, I was blown away by the artistry and kept my fingers crossed that it wouldn't degenerate into CGI by numbers after that. It did not. As was said upthread, every frame was like a poster: to me it really felt like a comic book that had been brought to life. I also wondered if the figures were completely computer generated, or there was some real life action that was blended in somehow. I get that animation technology is ever improving, but at the same time, some of the movements felt too real to have been fully computer-generated (or hand-animated). It also helped a lot that I dug the halftone screen effect.

Plotwise, yeah, whatever. Like others on here, I felt that the pacing was a bit uneven, and while I could see there was scope to get more emotionally invested in the relationships, the screenwriters could have made that a bit easier for the casual viewer. I got invested in Gwen at the start, but then had to reset for Miles, and given the amount of time it took to get there, started to wonder if it was going to be worth it. I maintain that the ideal length of a movie is 100 minutes. At 140 or so, it did well with me not to outstay its welcome, but towards the end I was feeling that this felt a long way from being wrapped up, and indeed it came to pass. (An audience member behind me clearly hardn't realised we were reaching the end of the allotted time, as they took a comfort break just a few minutes before the end, returning just in time for the credits...)

No issues with the sound at our screening. In fact, probably some of the clearest dialogue I've heard at a cinema recently. I also really enjoyed the soundtrack, which felt integral to the movie right from the start, rather than an add-on.

I hadn't realised until the end it was a Lord and Miller effort. If there'd been some ridiculous acronyms in the script, I've have guessed sooner!

[Famous Mortimer]

I just got round to watching it, and largely agree with @Blinder Data above. I loved that they exploited its status as animation to interesting effect, but some of the big action set pieces left me...waiting for them to end? It was just slightly too much.

But I liked the plot, and the voices were all good too. Don't know if I'm thrilled about a 2 hr 20 min movie ending on a cliffhanger after having told half a story, but so be it.